What it’s really like to travel from Birmingham Airport, according to locals

Birmingham Airport has been hitting the headlines with passengers facing lengthy queues for some flights over the last few weeks.

The airport admitted 20 people missed their flight as travellers were forced to queue outside the terminal on Monday (May, 9) as half the 15,000 people booked to fly that day were due to leave in the morning.

Steady queues have been reported since, with some passengers praising Birmingham Airport for how they are managing the situation as more people take holidays as the Covid restrictions have eased, while the airport is still training staff after being forced to lose workers during the pandemic.

But what is it really like to travel from Birmingham Airport? BirminghamWorld took to the streets to ask local people about their experiences. You can hear all their comments in the video at the top of our story, or read a selection of their comments below. Please let us know what you think too.

Tom says: “So the airport - so I went on holiday back at the beginning of March, had no issues. Recently, I’ve been reading online, on the news, the issues that are happening at the airport and I am somewhat apprehensive of flying away next week. My other half - I can imagine his anxiety is also going to be a bit high as well during that because I know they’re having issues with staffing at the moment, and I just don’t want any delays more than anything.”

Roxy says: “Um, yeah, I I think it’s quite grey. And it’s quite  a sad looking airport, I feel like they could do, like, murals there or like, decorate it. And yeah, when I was travelling before COVID, even then there was like, huge queues. And yeah, some of my friends from Birmingham International recently, and they very much struggled with queues and getting through security.

“And even if they get there, like two to three hours earlier, they had to, like tell a member of staff to skip the queue to actually make their plane and they got to the airport so early. So I think, yeah, maybe work on that. I was speaking to a guy and I think they’re very understaffed.”

Grace says: “Well, I mean, it was relatively busy when I went because I went in December. So it’s like peak holiday season, and everybody had to do their COVID test still. And so it was really chaotic. And quite confusing, honestly, to find out where the terminals were and where you’re flying from. I felt like that was a bit strange. But generally, if you get there early enough, it was not too bad.”

Phil says: “Staff shortages - COVID - hasn’t helped at all, as we’ve seen happening in all other workplaces, around the country and the world, no doubt. But yeah, it’s a bit crazy. I can’t say it’s the greatest experience. They definitely need more staff. There’s never enough stations open there for you to get your luggage through. There’s queues, the experience could be a lot better. All that we ask is that we get some normality back soon.”

A message from the editor:Thank you for reading. BirminghamWorld is Birmingham’s latest news website, championing everything that is great about our city - reporting on news, lifestyle and sport. We want to start a community among our readers, so please follow us on Facebook,Twitter and Instagram, and keep the conversation going.